This is getting ridiculous!!

cweissen · Jan 29, 2012

Yes big Pharm is running our health care system!! I just got done working as a call center nurse for one of the biggest pharmacetical companies and it is crazy what they get away with. I am going back to work in pediatrics at a Magnet hospital and I cannot wait!! Drug shortages and price increases are crazy!! I know Obama put out something on the White House website about it and some solutions. Pharmacetical companies are looking for nurses and it is a good solution if nurses need to get off the floor but I felt like I was going against everything I believed in!!

Biffbradford · Jan 29, 2012

I had heard some one on NPR talking about the Pharm companies not developing newer antibiotics because it would kill the drive for hospitals to buy the ones they have now. :confused:

CrufflerJJ, BSN, RN, EMT-P · Jan 29, 2012

We're out of versed and now fentanyl!! A while back we were out of mag sulfate and calcium chloride!!

Over the past couple years, I've seen shortages of vanc, hydralazine, sodium & potassium phosphate, neo, levo, vasopressin, dopamine, propofol (multiple times), versed, ativan, etomidate, and now mag sulfate. I'm waiting for the Normal Saline shortage to hit.

Isn't it great working in the "third world", where you don't have reliable access to common medications?

lisa333 · Jan 30, 2012

I'm so glad someone else commented on this! I was worried I was the only one dealing with these shortages. My clinic uses fentanyl and versed for conscious sedation and we're now out of both! We're doing our best to replace them with combinations of demerol, vicodin, xanax, and valium, but it hasn't been easy to adjust. Hopefully it won't be long before this "shortage" is over!

boogalina, ADN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN · Feb 4, 2012

Add Zofran to the list. Good times!

suanna · Feb 4, 2012

Big pharm has made a lot of $ in the last 50 years- some of it at our expense, but what companys haven't tried to max out thier income? If your 401k was invested in a company that told you they were going to spend 50% of the dividend you were going to get on food banks and mosquito nets in the congo- (sorry you can't retire when you planned) , you may have a few suggestions for them. If a company cannot make a profit producing a product, they stop producing it. That is capitalism. The people who have demonized big pharm as the root of all health care evil have to take a share of this blame. If they drug companies didn't have to worry about every loosing venture as the one that broke the shareholders back, since they are declared guilty of being money grubbing fiends because they tried maximizing the profit on a new drug before every upstart in the world gets to copy it for free as a "generic" after a few years, (while big insurance gets to pay the hospital 20c on the dollar and 15% of the actual cost of the drugs if the hospital wants to continue serving patients with that carrier- and they are praised for it as an example of strong fiscal responsibility in containing health care costs). The only recourse for a pharm company is to cut thier losses and quit producing products that don't provide a strong profit for the bottom line. The shortages are going to get worse and worse, and I bet the impact is felt in many other areas soon. Equipment, dressings, staffing....

Look at what has been happening with the teachers unions in the news- Instead if being an underappriciated profession trying to provide a noble service, they are treated as a bunch of monsters that are bleeding government dry while they live high on the hog on $35000 to $60000 a year. How far behind do you think Nursing is in this fault finding fiasco.

Next thing you know- you aren't going to be short on versed- that will be solved by having so many patients to care for you don't have time to give PRNs.

(sorry for the rant)

nursemw · Feb 4, 2012

metoprolol and labetalol

qaqueen · Feb 13, 2012

Phenergan and Zofran

Nursetastic · Feb 14, 2012

Apresoline. It's my HTN best friend and I have not been able to give it in a couple of weeks.

mrr5745 · Feb 15, 2012

Valium, Ativan, Adderal, and tetracycline. This is unbelievable. The shortage of scop patches a while back truly affected my hospice pt's comfort during their final days. Is this ever going to be resolved?

CrufflerJJ, BSN, RN, EMT-P · Feb 16, 2012

Big pharm has made a lot of $ in the last 50 years- some of it at our expense, but what companys haven't tried to max out thier income? If your 401k was invested in a company that told you they were going to spend 50% of the dividend you were going to get on food banks and mosquito nets in the congo- (sorry you can't retire when you planned) , you may have a few suggestions for them. If a company cannot make a profit producing a product, they stop producing it. That is capitalism. The people who have demonized big pharm as the root of all health care evil have to take a share of this blame. ...-snip-
(sorry for the rant)

No need to apologize for the rant at all.

The latest shortage at work is mannitol. So sorry if you've got brain swelling. No have got. You die.

Looking on eBay suggests that bulk mannitol costs about $25/kg (probably much lower in high quantities). If a drug manufacturer supplies a 100g dose, raw material cost alone might be about $2.50 (OK, quadruple it for pharm quality to $10/dose). Even if the selling price is $30, the pharm company incurs significant liability when selling a "cheap, generic" medication. Why should they sell a med for low cost when the potential liability for that same med is very high?